The legend of las mariposas — the beautiful monarch
butterflies that every year fly more than two thousand miles
on fragile wings to return to their winter home in Mexico —
is Luz Avila’s birthright. She learned of their ways and
their mystical powers from the grandmother who was the only
family she ever knew. Now it is her turn, like the
butterflies, to make that long, perilous journey. In order
to honor a promise to her beloved abuela, Luz must return
her grandmother’s ashes to her ancestral village in the
mountains of Mexico. But while this ofrenda, a tradition so
old its origins are lost in the mists of time, will mean
leaving behind a man who loves Luz deeply, the journey
promises to bring deep spiritual meaning to the life of a
woman who cannot find her way into the future until she
comes to terms with the past.
As Luz slowly makes her
way south from blustery Milwaukee in a VW Bug so ancient it
has no business on the highway, a series of seemingly random
encounters touches her life: a desperate mother-to-be, even
younger than her, fleeing an abusive lover. An
anywhere-the-wind-blows free spirit. A lonely career woman
who is determined to live, really live, for the first time.
It is in San Antonio, however, that a truly startling
revelation awaits Luz: a reunion with a shadowy figure from
her childhood.
Together, they cross the border into
Mexico, but they also must somehow cross the border that
separates past from present, bitterness from love, and truth
from lies. They will honor the memory of another beloved
woman by standing in the Sacred Circle to witness the
spectacular, glittering river of orange monarchs descend
from the sky to return home. If they can share in this
age-old ritual, perhaps they will be able to find their way
back to love, and take their place in the enduring cycle of
life.
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